Actor Mwajemi Hussein attends a news conference to promote the film ‘The Survival of Kindness’ at the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival on February 17, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. Photo Credit: Reuters
Mwajemi Hussain had never been in or acted in any cinema prior to her leading role kindness survivalA film that has a chance to win the top prize berlin film festival,
Hussain, in her early 50s, plays a blackwoman in a dystopian racial allegory by director Rolf de Heer, which begins with her walking barefoot across a hot desert, escaping a cage where she is being left for dead by white men. Was released, who wore a gas mask.
The actor and case worker from the Democratic Republic of Congo draws on his unique personal experience of growing up to turn this largely non-speaking role into a study of resilience, perseverance, despair and kindness.
“I survived every day because my family was poor. It was not easy to find food, even shoes. People are not sure how I made it through walking barefoot, but it was part of my life because I grew up without shoes Hussain said reuters in an interview.
“I grew up without my parents, my biological parents, so I had to learn how to communicate with people around the villages in order to try and survive.”
Hussein fled the Congo in 1996 after the outbreak of war, living in a refugee camp in Tanzania for eight years before moving with her husband and six children to Australia in 2005 on refugee visas.
Encouraged by members of her community, she auditioned for the role despite having no acting experience.
Hussain, who said she was nervous to perform earlier, now advocates and encourages others, especially those who are marginalized.
“Us [be kind] If we see something valuable in someone. Because sometimes people don’t know themselves, but the other person can see something in you,” she said.
“So if you see something in someone, encourage him. This is how we can make our world better”.
De Heer explained that the decision to cast Hussain as the Blackwoman over someone with more experience was somewhat risky. reuters, “With Mwajemi, it might be bad, but it could be great”, he said.
“There is no pool of actors in South Australia that includes choices about black women of that age. They just aren’t there because there aren’t parts for them.